Bad news for Alphonso Davies and Canada: The FC Bayern left-back is expected to miss his home country’s World Cup opener. National coach Jesse Marsch has now given his first concrete statement on the Bayern star’s situation
Canada kick off their home World Cup campaign against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on June 12, but whether Alphonso Davies will be ready for action at that time is currently questionable
„Yes,“ answered Canada coach Jesse Marsch when asked whether Davies would play at the World Cup, but the former Bundesliga coach qualified: „I don’t think he’ll be quite ready on June 12, but we’ll see.“
This suggests that Canada will have to make do without its captain at the start of the tournament
Davies continues his rehab in Europe
The Bayern professional suffered a thigh injury in the Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain on 6 May and Davies has been working on his comeback ever since
The 25-year-old is not yet at the Canadians‘ training camp in Charlotte. Instead, he is continuing his rehab in Europe. According to Marsch, Davies will not join the national team until 31 May in Edmonton
The Canadian association is working closely with FC Bayern on this, and Marsch spoke of „really good talks“ with Bayern sports director Christoph Freund
Bayern supports World Cup plan
Particularly interesting: according to Marsch, the German record champions expressly support the World Cup plan. „Bayern wants him to play at the World Cup,“ explained the Canadian national team coach. The aim now is to gradually bring Davies back up to speed – without taking any unnecessary risks
Canada is therefore still hoping that the left-back will at least be able to play in the rest of the tournament
After the opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Canada still have group matches against Qatar on June 18 and Switzerland on June 24
Davies has so far been included in the provisional World Cup squad, with Jesse Marsch set to announce the final line-up on May 29
For FC Bayern, the situation is also likely to be followed with interest, as Davies is still one of the most important players in Vincent Kompany’s squad despite the recurring injury problems.